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The Godfather (book series)
The Godfather book series is a series of crime novels about Italian-American Mafia families, most notably the fictional Corleone family, led by Don Vito Corleone and later his son Michael Corleone. The first novel, The Godfather, written by Mario Puzo, was released in 1969. It was adapted into three features film, which became one of the most acclaimed franchises in the film history. Puzo also wrote the second novel, The Sicilian, which was released in 1984, and was made into a film in 1987. Mark Winegardner wrote the next two novels, The Godfather Returns and The Godfather's Revenge, released in 2004 and 2006 respectively. Edward Falco wrote the fifth novel, based on a draft script by Mario Puzo, titled The Family Corleone, which also served as a prequel to Puzo's first novel. It was released in 2012. Novel series Chronology # The Family Corleone (2012) - set from 1933 to 1934 # The Godfather (1969) - set from 1945 to 1955 (with flashbacks) # The Sicilian (1984) - set in 1950 # The Godfather Returns (2004) - set from 1955 to 1962 (with flashbacks) # The Godfather's Revenge (2006) - set from 1963 to 1964 (with flashbacks) Reception By the time of its release, the first novel remained on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in two years since the release. The series has sold over 120 million copies. Film adaptations ''The Godfather'' The Godfather film series, based on Puzo's first book, is one of the most acclaimed franchise in film history. The Godfather, released in 1972, is an adaptation of the Puzo novel of the same name. The Godfather Part II also adapts elements from the first novel, mostly the flashbacks early life of Vito Corleone plus new plot created for the film. The story of The Godfather Part III, released in 1990, is not taken from any novel. The Winegardner novels, released after Part III, incorporate and explain elements from Part II and Part III, as does The Family Corleone by Ed Falco. ''The Sicilian'' The 1987 film, The Sicilian, based on Puzo's second book, also released, with Christopher Lambert as the main character, Salvatore Giuliano. Due to copyright issues, all Godfather references were removed and the characters of Michael Corleone and Peter Clemenza were not included in the film. Legal issues By the time of the release of the fourth novel, The Godfather’s Revenge, Paramount Pictures sued the Puzo estate for the publication of the novel, and also sought to block publication of The Family Corleone, claiming that it had only authorized publication of one sequel, The Godfather Returns. The lawsuit claimed that the novel tarnished the legacy of the films and misled readers into believing that the novels were authorized by Paramount. With the release of the fifth novel, The Family Corleone, the estate of Puzo had sought to keep Paramount Pictures from producing a feature film based on the novel. This has been resolved, with Paramount gaining the rights to make more Godfather films (as of early 2019, no plans had been announced). See also * The Last Don * Omertà * Fools Die References External links * Mario Puzo Official Website Category:The Godfather Category:Novels